“And so you’ve been here ever since?”
“Yes. Our John’s mother died two years since come Christmas; and then fayther came to live with us. He’d had a cottage of his own afore, with a housekeeper to look arter him.”
“And is your squire, Mr Collington, a total abstainer?”
“Ay, he is, for sure, and a gradely ’un too. He’s owner of most of the land and houses here. The whole village belongs to him; and he’ll not have a drop of intoxicating drinks sold in it. You passed the public. You heard no swearing nor rowing, I’ll warrant. You’ll find church, and chapel too, both full of Sundays; and there’s scarce a house where the Bible isn’t read every night. Ah! the drink’s the great curse as robs the heart of its love, the head of its sense, and the soul of its glory!”
Chapter Twenty Six.
Conclusion.
There just remain a few creases to be smoothed out, and our story is done.
The morning after Samuel’s arrival Betty made her way to the Hall, taking her brother with her. She knew that the squire and his lady, and indeed the whole family, would rejoice to hear that the wanderer was returned, for all loved the simple-hearted Lancashire girl, and had long sympathised with her and her father in their sorrow about Samuel.